The Invisible Brake: Naming the Fears That Stall Your Coaching Business
By the time pricing or high-ticket offers come up, most coaches feel a sense of tension. It isn’t because they lack the skill or the framework; it’s because fear starts to feel personal. You tie your price to your worth, your experience, and your confidence, which leads to hesitating, discounting, and over-explaining.
In our latest podcast episode, Adam Roach and Jess Webber explore these unspoken fears—the internal conditioning that tells you "I'm not ready" or "They won't pay for this". If you want to build a real coaching business, addressing these fears isn't optional; it’s foundational.
1. Naming the Fear: The Story Model™
Fear often stems from past conditioning—events that happened in previous roles where you were judged or failed. Using the Story Model™, we recognize that it isn't the event that limits you, but the story you created about what that event meant.
To move beyond fear, you must:
Identify the Trigger: Name the moment that triggers self-doubt or imposter thoughts.
Challenge the Judgment: Ask if the story you are telling yourself is 100% true.
Seek Evidence: Find the truth underneath the fear to separate fact from internal narratives.
2. Calculating the "Lost Cost" of Living in Fear
Most coaches stay stuck because they focus on the "Gained Cost"—the money or time they have to invest to grow. However, the most significant driver for action is understanding the Lost Cost of doing nothing.
When you live in fear, what is it actually costing you?
Lost Time: The months spent "spinning" instead of building.
Lost Money: The revenue missed because you are undercharging or avoiding sales calls.
Lost Confidence: The compounding weight of staying underutilized.
When the pain of staying stuck becomes more expensive than the effort of taking action, you will finally move.
3. The Power of Community (1:Many Momentum)
Fear has a way of isolating you, making you feel like you are the only one struggling with "bottlenecks" in your business. This is why we transition from Phase 2 (Experiential) to Phase 3 (Authentic) coaching.
In a 1:Many model, community support alleviates the burden of fear. When you see others navigating the same shifts and sharing their progress, the "risk" of your offer feels lower. Momentum comes from execution within a community, not from more solo thinking.
Commit to the Move
Today, choose a path that reflects the value of your results, not your comfort level. Clarity always comes before confidence, and testing your offer in a real community is the only way to refine it.
Ready to stop the reset cycle and build an offer you can actually sell?